Murali blow for Sri Lanka

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Muralitharan is still feeling the effects of a bicep injury which forced him to miss the World Twenty20 and will play no part in the remaining two games of the series as Sri Lanka look to recover from a 2-1 deficit.

"Murali will not be playing in the last two one-day internationals as he is still not 100% fit," said Gunasekera. "He has just started to bowl two to three overs a day and is testing his injury out."

He added: "He wants to be very sure before he makes a decision with regards to playing and at this stage the one day games against England are definitely out.

"He is targeting the tour of Australia and at this rate we are very confident he will be at his peak level of fitness by that time."

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene hinted on Monday that 35-year-old Muralitharan would not return until he is fully recovered.

"Murali has to be 100%," stressed Jayawardene, who wants his premier bowler fit and able for their Test tour of Australia starting next month and the home series against England in December.

"We'll have to see whether we definitely need him because he's very important to us in the five Test matches we've got ahead of us - once we get back to Colombo we'll see how he is but we're not going to rush him.

"He's started bowling a bit but once our physio goes back to Colombo and sees how he is and how he comes through practice we'll assess him then."